There was indeed something clinging atop the spur. No, Obi-Wan realized as they climbed.

Not something. Someone. And not clinging.

Strapped to the rock by a length of rope was the desiccated corpse of an X’Ting male.

Little was left but carapace and dried flesh.

"What happened here? " Jesson whispered. "This was my broodmate Tesser. He made it this far, and no farther. " He climbed higher to touch his own forehead to his dead brother’s withered brow. "He climbed up here to escape the worms. Strapped himself so that he wouldn’t slide back down if he lost consciousness. If he became weak. And here he died. "

So. Now they knew what had happened to two of those who had tried to reach the egg chamber.

"We will die, " Jesson said, his voice flat and drained of emotion.

"That’s defeatist thinking, " Obi-Wan said. "After all, Tesser made it farther than the other. Perhaps we can make it farther still. "

Something like hope blossomed in Jesson’s eyes. "You have a plan, Jedi? "

"Not yet, but I will. "

What distance to the far wall? Obi-Wan measured it with his eyes: sixty meters. Too far to run. The worms would overwhelm the wounded Jesson, and perhaps Obi-Wan, as well. And there was no point in reaching the egg chamber without his X’Ting companion. Without Jesson’s specialized knowledge, he had no chance at all of accessing the vault.

"What equipment do you have? "

"My spear is gone. I have the glowlight, and a grapnel line. "

A grapnel line? That might come in useful. "Let me see it, " Obi-Wan said.

Jesson showed him the gun. It was about the size of a hand blaster, with a filament reel nestled beneath. Fairly standard GAR surplus.

"How much line? " Obi-Wan asked.

"Twenty meters? "

So. They had twenty meters of grapnel cable as standard equipment, but that wasn’t enough to get them over . . .

To their left jutted another rock spur, this one about fifteen meters from their destination: the far wall. The spur was about thirty meters away. Could they make it that far? No, not with Jesson’s wounded leg.

All right. What, then?

Obi-Wan looked up above their heads and noted a ten-meter stalactite above them, halfway between their current position and that rock spur. A plan began to evolve. It would depend on the strength of that stalactite, but it might just work.

"I’m going to try something, " Obi-Wan said. "If you trust me, we might make it through this. "

"All right, Jedi, " Jesson said. "I have no choice. Let’s hear your idea. "

"You’ll see, " Obi-Wan said, and climbed higher up the spur. The worms humped around the base. From time to time one or two tried to crawl up, but they couldn’t get good purchase on the rock and slipped back down.

Obi-Wan took Jesson’s grapnel and aimed carefully, firing it at the protruding stalactite.